Caregivers' home-based management of fever in children under the age of five in the Mukono district, Uganda

Abstract

Malaria is endemic in Uganda. The study attempted to determine how Ugandan home-based caregivers managed fever. Structured interviews were conducted with 60 caregivers of children under the age of five. Caregivers were selected from each community's registers. The Epi-Info and MSExcel programs were used to analyse the data. Out of the 60 households that were interviewed, 15 (25%) reported that at least one child had died from malaria in that household. Caregivers' decisions were influenced by health education, family members, community leaders and other caregivers. Most caregivers knew about malaria, but did not know the symptoms, and were not aware of the services offered by village drug distributors. Most of them (caregivers) administered treatment for fever at home before taking the children to health centres. Mosquito nets, indoor residual spraying and other malaria preventive measures were rarely used due to lack of funds. The study recommended that anti-malaria drugs should always be available and accessible, the services of village drug distributors should be improved, health education should be enhanced, and malaria preventive measures should be implemented and sustained.